Indian Express; Arindam Banerjee; Fri, 24 Jun 2011,
Kolkata : With Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee making regular surprise visits to hospitals, their staff might have become a bit more alert but a recent RTI has revealed that only 9 per cent doctors accused of “medical negligence” and “ethical violation” in the state over the last 10 years have been “dismissed” from their services or warned.
The rest 91 per cent of the complaints have been either closed or the doctors concerned let off.
A total of 515 cases were filed against doctors in the last 10 years and only 15 doctors had been removed from the council’s list of registered practitioners and another 30 had been let off after ‘warnings’.
The state has long seen several exemplary cases of medical negligence and apathy from doctors in both government-run and private institutions.
The report was filed by a city-based civil society group People for Better Treatment (PBT) comprising doctors, ex-medicos, lawyers and individuals who have faced some sort of ‘medical negligence’ in their lives.
The PBT had filed a RTI query in February 2011, seeking the status of complaints received against doctors by the West Bengal Medical Council(WBMC).
In a letter dated March 5, 2011, WBMC registrar D K Ghosh sent a reply furnishing complete details between 2001 and 2010.
The report says 171 cases has been declared as ‘not to proceed any further’. 104 cases has been kept pending as ‘cases under consideration’. 61 cases has been ‘closed or dropped’ and for another 25 cases, ‘charges could not be substantiated’.
Charge-sheets have been issued in 53 cases but hearing is still awaited. Seven cases are in court and are pending judgment. 27 cases are pending as the accused doctors are registered with other state medical councils.
In 2011, 18 cases have been registered with the council till now.
The council had recently uploaded the status of all cases registered till May 31 this year on their website.
A complaint filed way back in 2002 by one Nityananda Chakraborty against Dr D P Ghosh still stands unresolved: the status against File Number 79-C states that ‘charge-sheet framed but hearing awaited’.
Another complaint submitted in 2005 by a group of Government Medical Officers at the Haldia Sub Divisional Hospital against one Dr Ajay Dey states that the ‘doctor has been charge-sheeted but hearing awaited’.
There are many such similar cases that reflect the plight of those who suffered because of ‘medical negligence’ and are awaiting justice.
“The Medical Council clearly lacks transparency in their activities. Many families who have lost their dear ones due to such negligence have long fighting a lone battle. Unless the whole council is revamped and the function of the members investigated, speedy justice is highly improbable,” said Moloy Ganguly, secretary of PBT, who lost his wife in 1986 to excessive drug allergy.
Registrar Ghosh refused to comment on the specific reasons behind the statistics.
Meanwhile, top members of the council have put in their resignation papers after the exit of the Left Front government citing’ personal reasons’.
But PBT members allege that these high-profile council members have shielded accused several doctors on numerous occasions and did not even cancel the medical registration of doctors found guilty by Supreme Court in the famous Anuradha Saha death case of 1998.
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